Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Sociology and Anthropology
Committee Chair
Joshua Woods
Committee Co-Chair
Christopher P. Scheitle
Committee Member
Christopher P. Scheitle
Committee Member
Jason Manning
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to determine whether differences in the way the media frames an act of violence leads to different reactions by consumers. In particular, it was hypothesized that the ideology and race of the perpetrator would lead to differences in perceptions of whether or not the attack was terrorism. A vignette-style experiment was performed using respondents recruited via MTurk. Four versions of the vignette were evenly distributed to 441 respondents, changing whether the frame contained a photo, the ideology, and the name of the perpetrator. Using measures of fear from this data it was then investigated whether or not fear made respondents more willing to trade their civil liberties for a feeling of increased security. Though few significant findings were discovered in this research, it is believed that the findings will contribute to the broader topic by suggesting new directions for terrorism and media framing research in the future.
Recommended Citation
Dabbs, Ellory Ruth, "Framing effects on fear of terrorism and willingness to sacrifice civil liberties" (2019). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 3893.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3893